Crystalline Angel
by Ezzarella
Summary: Weasley. The name was a blessing and a curse. You could get away with anything but never be kept out of the spotlight. Your feet were worshipped and your words were law. But you'd never know who was your real friends were compared to the fakes. So our family just stuck together... Untill I got tired of that.
1. Chapter 1

**Sooo, here is chapter one. I hope you enjoy it. I won't be within internet access for a week but I'll continue to write chapters while I'm gone.**

**Pip xoxox  
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**Chapter One**

_September 1__st__ 2017_

Smoke streamed around the hundreds of parents and children on Platform 9¾. I'd lost sight of mum and dad a while ago when they went to wish Victorie good luck on her final year of Hogwarts, but I still had my ten-year-old brother Louis with me. I hugged him tightly. Louis was by far my favourite family member. Don't get me wrong, I love every member of my family (and let me tell you that is a _lot_ of people to love), but Louis was special. Victorie and Louis aren't as close because of the massive age gap between them; and I'm scared to say that I wouldn't have been all that close to him if he had been any younger than me, but somehow we work.

"Dominique! There you are!" my mother glides over to me, worry etched on her face, "Have you seen Victorie anywhere?"

I sigh. Always Victorie isn't it. Yes, it's her last year at Hogwarts, but it's my _OWLs_ year. Where's my Good Luck kiss?

"I don't know where she is Mum; probably off with Teddy somewhere," I huff at her. She notices my annoyance at her and hurries off, elegantly as always.

Louis, seeing my annoyance, hugs me tighter and wishes me good luck on my fifth year. "It's okay Dommi! Mum and dad will come back after they find Vicky. And anyway, I wanted to wish you luck first!"

This brightens my mood immensely and I kiss him swiftly on each cheek. "Merci beaucoup petit frère! But you know how much Victorie hates that nickname," I mock scold him as we start to walk over to James and his family.

As we walk over, I catch the end of James' incessant chattering about Teddy kissing Victorie. Obviously the two lovey-doveys didn't want to keep their secret relationship a secret anymore. When they started dating, Teddy was the perfect gentleman and asked each member of our family if it was okay. We all accepted them dating each other but Teddy must've 'forgotten' to tell his god-family.

James sees me walking over to him and rushes over, shock clearly evident on his face, "Merlin's beard! Dominique! Did you know that Teddy and your sister are having a secret romance?"

I giggled, despite the continual attention on Victorie. James was a bit of an exaggerator. James was second on my _Favourite family member_ list. We were in the same grade and House, and at Hogwarts we were rarely separated.

"Yes, I did know silly! Those two were over at my house most of the summer," I answered him, fighting the laughter busting to release my mouth from James' suggestive expression.

"How long have they been dating?" he proceeds to interrogate me with all these questions about Victorie. As each question about her popped up, I could feel the anger bubbling inside of me. Yes, I have anger issues. But I can accept that and I'm not afraid to admit that. Other people are definitely afraid of me in my rage sessions, but they soon learn not to piss me off. One thing that definitely got me on my bad side was anything to do with Victorie and not me. James especially knew this, and Molly. Molly was the serious side to James that always shut him up on things when he didn't know how. It was Molly that also claimed that I'd either inherited the Weasley madness (courtesy of grand-mere Molly), or the Veela genes. I was willing to bet on both.

Just as I was about to lash out at James, his little sister ran up to me; squealing my name. "Dominique!"

"Hello Lily-pilly! How are you going? You big brother isn't being mean to you is he?" I shot James a look to say that I wasn't happy with him. He shrivelled back in fear.

"No, he's being a good brother," she answered. I snorted at the image of James on a leash while Lily pulled him along, all the while saying 'good doggy'. Lily continued on as if I hadn't made a sound, "...and I have to wait _two whole years_ before I get to go with you guys to school." She finished her rant and looked at me expectantly, like I should have commented to whatever she was saying.

"Um... well two years actually flies right over your head! I remember when my older sister got her letter to go to Hogwarts. She was so excited to go to school, but I was so upset and jealous that I couldn't go with her. Before I knew it I was going too!"

This brightened up her mood and she went off to wish Albus good luck on his first year. Lily was such a cutie. I bet James didn't even know that he was wrapped around her little finger. I had a strange suspicion that every male in the family was held tightly in her grasp.

The whistle blew all around the station. We had to get on the train and leave in a few minutes.

Louis looked at me sadly for a moment before burying his head in my chest.

"I'm going to miss you Dominique!" he said tearfully, hugging me like his life depended on it.

"I'll miss you too sweetie," I whisper back at him whilst holding him gently. Usually we weren't this bad at saying goodbyes, but Louis must have guessed that I wouldn't be coming home for Christmas this year. He understood that I needed to study for my _OWLs_. I would make sure that I came home for his birthday in the Easter holidays, but that was a long way away from now. This would probably be the longest time I'll be spending away from him since I left to start Hogwarts.

"Just think, next year you'll be with me all year! And we can do something every weekend!" I smile at him, as he lifts his head and smiles back slightly. Then his smile vanishes.

"I won't have any friends next year. Nobody is the same age as me here!"

"You'll make friends. Trust me; there isn't a student in Hogwarts that doesn't want to be friends with a Weasley. We are all too loveable. Besides, Being friends with your cousins gets a bit boring sometimes," I answer him confidently.

We both let go of each other and walk over to mum and dad, who were looking frantic.

"Oh Merlin! Thank goodness you're both here! We worried you left for the train before saying goodbye!" my mother grips be tightly and kisses both of my cheeks fiercely; before pushing me into my father.

"Goodbye angel. Have a safe trip," dad murmurs to me quietly.

"Bye maman et papa! I'll miss you!" I say to them both as I board the train. I scramble into a random compartment and squeeze into a space next to the window to wave goodbye to them. As the train started to move and the smoke began to clear, I noticed a little blonde boy waving at me with his small hand. His face was wet with tears as he watched me leave the station.

I left the compartment that I was intruding on and hurried to find James and Molly, whilst a single tear escaped my eye.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! So you may have noticed that it hasn't been a week like I said it would be (If you read these Authors note things, I know I don't), but I got away from no-internet early! YYAAAAAAAAAYY! Anyways I may be changing the title and the summary sometime soon as I may find out where the story is going! Enjoy!**

**Pip Xoxox  
**

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**Chapter Two**

"Dom! Are you joining us or not?" Fred asked me impatiently. I quickly turned from the window to notice that we were no longer playing exploding snap.

"What are we doing?" I ask innocently to the tittering laughter from Lucy and James.

"Truth or dare?" Lucy asks me quickly, a familiar spark in her brown eyes. If you looked at Molly and Lucy, you wouldn't have guessed that they were sisters at all, apart from their shared freckles and eye shape. While Molly was strict and always pushing for Fred, James and I to study and do homework, Lucy was helping Fred and James start up massive rallies of dung-bomb wars in the common room.

"Truth," I answer immediately. As far as I know, I have no secrets to hide from any of my family members, and anyway, it was widely known that if you picked dare, you were either extremely bold (or dumb in some cases), or you had a secret that you wanted to protect. Usually the latter.

"Damnit!" I heard someone behind me curse. Dominique: 1. Fred I think: zero!

"Um..." Lucy trailed off in thought. Even though she was a year younger than us, I was surprisingly closer to Lucy than Molly; even though Molly and I shared classes together. Maybe it was because Molly was in Ravenclaw and the rest of us weren't.

Lucy then called out for the rest of the crew in our compartment for ideas. This could take a while.

Or apparently not, when the three masterminds of Fred, James and Lucy were involved.

"To what lengths have you gone to get a good mark on a test?" Lucy asked smugly. Oh, ha ha! That is just low of them to ask that.

I glare at them. "That is just disgusting!" I retort, "And no, I haven't needed to do anything to get good marks. I'm naturally smart thank you very much!"

"Well sorry, Miss Perfect Princess," James muttered sarcastically.

"What? You're still a virgin?" Lucy exclaimed at me. I just shot her a look to say I wasn't amused and tried to get the game back on track.

"Honey, I'm fifteen, so I don't see why we should be discussing this. All of our parents didn't think of any of that stuff until after the War. And they'd all left school by then," I finish solemnly at her. "On another note... Molly, truth or dare?"

Molly, who was quietly letting the world go by behind her book/pamphlet-thingy whatever named, _Ways to succeed in your OWLs,_ looked up at me.

"I don't do that sort of thing," she replied coldly, "And anyway, I'm a Prefect and have to set an example to other years." Her sentence got colder as she stared down at Lucy, on the floor.

"Molly, just play the stupid game alright?" Lucy exclaimed to her sister. The two then entered a death-stare match that the rest of us didn't want to get caught in.

Being the brave Gryffindors we were, Fred, James and I scrambled out of the compartment like there was a dementor in front of us.

"Okay, where to now?" I ask them as we wander off, looking for a room with the least amount of people in it. Being Weasleys (and Potters in James's case), it was hard to distinguish real friend from fake friend. You would find the odd person here or there that didn't really care who you were, but mostly people only wanted status for befriending the almost-royal Weasley clan. It was the main reason why we stuck together.

"I don't know about you guys, but I am starving!" Fred groaned as we walked along the corridor of the train. Him and his appetite. He spotted the trolley lady and tripped over his shoes to get to her. Last year, the old trolley lady retired from having to deal with 'way to excited kids' and a 'noisy environment', so the Hogwarts Express hired a lovely young lady that raked in the boys, and money. No doubt what the plan was there.

"What was up with Molls and Luce? I've never seen them in each others' face before," James states quietly to me as we watch Fred shamelessly flirt with the lovely brunette.

"I don't know. But I think Uncle Percy has been favouring Molly again and Lucy hates it. Hell, I hate it when Victorie _breathes_ sometimes."

"Yes, well I don't think it's fair for parents to pick favourites. Makes the other kiddies feel unloved. You know what I mean?" he looks at me, messy black hair getting in his eyes.

"What? Maman and Papa don't favour anyone in our family. I just hate how Victorie grabs all the attention sometimes." We let the subject drop as Fred moved onto the "I'm so wealthy", card.

"Could he sink any lower?" We both ask in unison.

"Do you wanna ditch him?" I ask him as we sneakily open up some random compartment and slip in. We turn around to find three tall, blonde boys staring at us with wide eyes.

"Hey guys! Fancy seeing you here!" James greets them and plonks down next to one of the Scamander twins, who was sitting next to Franklin Longbottom. I quickly sat down on the other seat next to the other Scamander twin; I'm not sure what one, even though they weren't identical. Not completely identical anyway. They both had the same dirty blond hair and long faces. They were the same height and build, but it was their eyes that were different. One of them had bright-blue eyes, like oceanic sapphires; whilst the other brother had fierce hazel eyes that blazed like an angry fire. I almost felt bad for not being able to distinguish them. But they weren't in the same house as me and I only have a few classes with them. So it wasn't like I really needed to know, right?

Franklin looked at me. And looked. And then looked some more, before finally managing a quick "hello, Dominique". I realized then that he might possibly fancy me. Aww how cute!

"Hey guys," I smile to them all politely, "How have your summer holidays been?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again! Yes, so I was going to keep this chapter for a bit longer but I couldn't be bothered. Hope they're all good!  
**

**Pip Xoxox**

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**Chapter Three**

Apparently, The Scamander twins had _heaps_ of fun in the summer. The blue-eyed one, Lorcan, told me all about how his father took them on a hiking expedition up some mountain to watch some of the last giants alive run their day to day lives. The hazel-eyed one, Lysander then told me that all they did was bully and bash each other into oblivion every day. He went to explain how he saw a female crup nursing her young pups. I honestly had no idea in the world what a crup was, I suppose a three-headed wolf or something from the use of the word pup. Lorcan then told me about all these different teas his mother had invented and how one of them apparently made you more intriguing to a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Uh huh... sure.

James and Franklin were having a detailed discussion about Quidditch that completely blew over my head. Something about the Holyhead Harpies smashing the Montrone Magpies for the eighth year in a row. Fred then entered the room with a huge grin on his face and an armful of sweets in his hands. That shut everyone up as they all reached for the sweets. It was then that I realized how awkward my position was in the train compartment. I had Lysander reaching over me for the chocolate frogs, Franklin leaning almost in my face for the pumpkin pasties, James just decided to move and squeeze beside Fred for better access at the liquorice wands, and Lorcan was fighting over the packets of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans with Fred. This is officially the last time I stay in a train with five hungry boys!

After all the candy was allocated (I managed to get a measly piece of a cauldron cake), things finally settled down. The boys all started up a conversation about how the House Cup was going to be determined by the Quidditch games and teams this year, while I just sat and looked out of the window from the middle seat I was in. Well, shared middle seat, as James had refused to move from beside Fred. That meant that poor Lysander and I were squished into the window of the train.

James was in the middle of boasting his Captaincy when there was a loud stomping outside the compartment, followed by shouting and shrieking. I looked at James and we instantly knew that leaving Molly and Lucy alone together was a bad idea. Or maybe a good idea if you wanted to stay alive.

"I'll go and check on them," I murmur to everyone, who were as silent as stones.

"Call for back-up if you need it," Fred half-heartedly joked as I grimaced. This was not a place for boys to be getting into.

I quickly slid open the door and slipped through, happy that the gap was pretty small. At least I'm still skinny. As I turned my back on the door and the safety it provided, I realized that my eyes were closed. _Really Dominique?_

I was preparing to open them slowly to take in the destruction two sisters can cause when the slam of a door, opened my eyes for me. The bathroom door. I hurry over and knock on the door quietly, hoping it was either Molly or Lucy.

"Piss off!" Yep, that was Lucy.

"Luce, honey. It's Dominique. Open up," I call softly through the door to try and get her to comply. The lock clicks open and I steal into the toilet cubicle.

To say she was a wreck would have been an understatement. Her normally perfect red curls went in every direction around her head; tangled in her off centred glasses and obscuring her face. Her eyes were all red and puffy, and her usual near-perfect posture was slumped. She didn't even sit on the toilet, she was that upset. She sat in a foetal position, between the wall and the toilet.

I grabbed her hands and sat her on the toilet, kneeling in front of her on the ground. "What happened honey?" I ask her softly, being as sincere as possible.

Lucy sniffed and took a deep breath, "After you guys left, Molly said that she shouldn't play those childish games and that she had to set an example for the younger and more immature people around," she started, adding the slightest imitation of Molly into her sentence. "I already knew that she was referring to me but I asked her what she meant anyway and she just said that 'daddy wants me to make sure that you don't stray from your studies and keep out of trouble'," she sniffed again and a few tears escaped her eyes. Being the good cousin I am, I grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her eyes for her whilst squeezing her small, pale hand in comfort.

"It's okay Moosey-Lucy," I murmur her pet-name as she cries a bit more. After a while she shook her head and continued on. "She started lecturing me about the 'extremely personal' questions I asked you! And then she went on to say that it was only because of her that you hadn't turned out so bad and that I should look up to her more if I didn't want to get any worse than I already was!" By the time she had finished her ranting she was bubbling in anger. To be honest; I was a little angry myself. How dare Molly claim that it was only her and her 'restraining hand' on me that was stopping me from throwing myself at some guy in a broom closet! And how _dare_ she tell Lucy how immature and bad she was!

"You know what, Lucy? You don't need to care about whatever Molly says to you. She's just jealous that you're _way_ prettier and more popular than her. Molly's probably finally realized that I prefer you to her now anyway," I say consolingly to her, being completely honest. Before she has any time to reply I pull out my wand and perform a concealment charm on her face, hiding how red and puffy her eyes had become. I fixed her hair and rearranged her glasses for her before telling her to take a drink of water from the sink.

"Thanks," she says to me before letting me whisk her off to our new compartment room. I open the door and all the boys fall silent at once. Idiots.

"Franklin, Lorcan, Lysander; this is my cousin, Lucy," I introduce them to her as I shove James off my seat and pull Lucy next to me. They each wave to her politely as James puts his arm around her and ruffles her hair. I was about to protest how long it took me to fix her hair when Lucy shot me a look to say that she didn't want them to know.

By the time the train stopped and we were loaded onto the Threstral-drawn carriages (don't worry I couldn't see them), Lucy was back to her bubbly, mischievous self.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello again,**

**I may have forgotten to upload this before so it's like 2 weeks late or something... Oh well I guess you have it now! Enjoy!  
**

**Pip. Xoxox  
**

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**Chapter Four**

Everyone was in high spirits when the Sorting and the food came out. Albus was placed in Gryffindor, as we all knew he would be. James and his brother were a lot alike, even though they both didn't want to admit it. Rose was also placed in Gryffindor, much to her relief. I think she took her father's words seriously. What surprised me though, was the pale, blonde-haired boy that sat next to Albus. Scorpius Malfoy. The small being managed to break the well known tradition of all-Malfoys-being-in-Slytherin. He was a quiet one, but I guess that was due to him being surrounded by his family's sworn enemy. This year, Franklin decided that he'd join our little group of Weasleys and Potters. He was currently sitting next to Fred, who was opposite me. James, who was next to me, was grumbling in my ear about the 'little Slytherin git'. I had to remind him several times that the boy must be different and that he was being stared at and whispered about enough without James whispering about him too. Lucy was off chatting to some of her friends in her year, completely over the incident on the train, while Molly was quietly eating by herself at the Ravenclaw table. When we were getting onto the carriages, Molly was waiting for me in one of the carriages and saved me a seat, but I just looked at her and plonked myself next to Lorcan. She probably knows now that I'm annoyed at her for what she said.

Speaking of the Scamander twins, they both sat a few seats away from Molly, talking intently to each other. It almost seemed like they were arguing. From the distance they were at, you couldn't tell which one was which. Well maybe you could have if you knew them both well enough. They may have looked the same, but the way they carried themselves was completely different to one another. I couldn't quite explain it.

"Are you going to eat dessert or not?" Fred asks be incredulously as I sit there, staring at the twins.

"Unlike you, Mr. I-could-eat-a-whale-whole-and-half-the-ocean-with-it, I have a limit on how much I can eat. It's called stomach content," I smirk at him.

"Yeah, but you didn't eat anything for lunch!" James exclaims. He was always worried that I didn't eat enough. I would sometimes tease him about being the new Grand-mere Molly (Grandma for most).

"No thanks to you boys," I mutter to myself, "I did manage to steal a cauldron cake from your massive candy pile," I say in my defence. We bickered back and forth until James decided to silence me with a Portuguese custard tart. It tasted divine to say the least. I was so wrapped up in eating it that I didn't notice the tables clearing. Fred decided that it was okay to steal my tart and eat it. Besides, I never really cared whenever they normally did that, but this custard tart was my new love. And Fred was going to pay for that. But not in the Great Hall, no. Too many prying eyes and teachers to stop me from gouging out his eyes. I'd wait until we got to the common room. So I sprinted up the steps, only to crash into Franklin, and his Prefect badge; perfect. I tried to reassemble my face to look slightly embarrassed for running into him, instead of the evil smirk that wanted to show itself to the world.

"Oops... sorry Franklin, I didn't see you there," I put my head down and sheepishly looked up at him through my long, dark lashes; only to see him blushing furiously. It made him look cute. But I was here on a mission. Get the password, wait in ambush, and kill Fred.

"It's okay. Erm, why the hurry? Do you need the password?" He asked me quietly. Bingo, jackpot!

"Yes, I'm in rather a hurry to get back to the common rooms. Do you know the password?"

"Yes!" He replied eagerly, happy to give me something I wanted. "It's _prophecy_!"

I smile sweetly at him. "Thank-you so much!"

I then waste no time in hurrying off the common rooms for my ambush attack.

The first to arrive are the sixth-year prefects and third years, who all rush to grab the best seats by the fire. Slowly, the seventh-year Gryffindors enter and usher the third years out of the seats, claiming that it was their last year to sit in the seats. To that the third years huffed off and stood on the opposite side of the room, where the school notices are on the wall. The fifth and second years come through next, and I was shocked to see that neither Fred nor James were among them. I waited some more before going to check the notices. Maybe there was a Quidditch thing going on? It turns out there wasn't.

Now I was a little worried about where they were and decided to sit amongst some of the second year boys, in order to see the portrait door open. No one arrived and so I became even more on edge. I faintly heard the twelve-year-old boys, whispering about me and trying to get each other to ask me out or something. But I didn't even care what they were saying. James and Fred were missing. What if they were taken? Or attacked. Uncle Harry had always told us to be on alert for any suspicious behaviour, but all of our responses to that were "the war is over" and "the only thing we need to worry about was Peeves". Maybe Peeves had gotten to them. But it couldn't be all that bad if it was Peeves. The worst he could do was throw dung bombs at you until you stunk for three weeks.

Or maybe it was the ancient caretaker, Argus Filch. He's never been the same since his beloved cat Mrs. Norris died when I was in my First Year. He was even crueller to students nowadays and would give out detentions to anyone that mentioned the word 'cat'. Maybe Fred and James did that on purpose. And maybe Filch was abusing them with those evil muggle torture methods from the 15th Century or something. I had to make sure they were alright.

I quickly left the little boys- much to their distaste- and ran out of the portrait hole; only to find Franklin leading the First years to the dormitory after the compulsory first-year tour. Franklin gave me a lopsided grin which I barely returned. He noticed my agitation and came over to me.

"Is everything alright?" He asked me with concern. I shook my head.

"Have you seen Fred or James...? Or both!" I frantically asked him, whilst looking around the empty staircases for any sign of life or destruction they might have left.

"Relax," he told me, placing his hands on my shoulders. I felt slightly comforted in his actions, "They both took Albus, Rose and Scorpius to the kitchens." I sighed with relief. _Its okay,_ I told myself. Filch didn't take them.

"Come on," he gently urged me towards to portrait hole, "I have to show the first years the common room. The other prefect kind of ditched me so do you want to help me?"

"Sure. I guess it wouldn't hurt to help out some little kids," I say to him as I smile down at their wondrous eyes. Little did I know how many questions twenty excited eleven-year olds had for two helpless fifteen-year olds.


	5. Chapter 5

******So sorry about keeping you waiting! I've been chipping away at it and I've decided to just post what I've got. Not happy with it but oh well deal with it!  
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**Pip Xoxox  
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**Chapter Five**

_September 3__rd__ 2017_

It was the last day of freedom before classes officially started. Having the Hogwarts Express take us all to Hogwarts on a Friday meant that we had an extra two days of before classes officially started. For teachers, it meant having us students do pre-school studying and possibly helping out other teachers prepare for classes.  
For all students that didn't come under the category of "Molly", it meant relaxing out in the sunshine of the usually warm Septembers in Scotland, where our school was located. We'd been handed out our timetables yesterday and I was delighted to see that our shared classes would mainly be with the Ravenclaws this year instead of the usual Slytherins. I know that you shouldn't judge people by their house and that each person is unique, but I can't help the rivalry I felt when in classes with the Slytherins. Gryffindor and Slytherin are natural enemies and nothing could sever the millennium old rivalry. What startled me was that Fred seemed outraged at having been taken away from the Slytherins. It was a known fact that any Slytherin within a short distance of Fred was going to have something coming for them. And having that advantage of forced closeness taken away from him basically ruined his weekend. Lucy and James tried cheering him up with multiple pranks that they could pull on the Slytherins in the Great Hall, but he wasn't having any of that. He was content to just mope in the common room for the last days of our freedom.

Meanwhile, _I_ was content spending the rest of my days in the warm September sun, before the weather cooled to autumn in the end of the month. I usually had Molly with me whenever I wasn't residing in the Gryffindor common room, but she seemed to have seen my consoling Lucy as an "I'm-taking-her-side-in-this-argument-and-not-yours", she was probably setting up some teacher's timetable for the next eight years anyway.

I didn't mind the peace and solitude this weekend brought me. I didn't have to endure Molly pressing me to do unnecessary work; or Fred constantly teasing me about how I look, I could just relax and enjoy the castle views, which where spectacular to say the least. The Black Lake was still a hotspot for many people to hang out, and the plain field stretching from the castle to the forests was a good place to catch the sun. My personal retreat was the small alcove of trees just off the boundary of the Forbidden Forest. There you could find hundreds of fairies and other small creatures flitting about their business through the trees while the occasional augurey—a green feathered vulture-like bird—hunted for them. Whenever I took Molly or Lucy down with me (James and Fred once tried to pluck and augurey for fun, thus me never taking them down anymore), all the creatures seemed to disappear and the glade lost its beauty, but when alone the miniature forest seemed to come alive. Too many humans seemed to intimidate the fairies and other little creatures I couldn't identify.

Seeing that I _was_ currently alone I figured that I could sneak down and see my hideaway. The untouched paradise instantly soothed me, even though I wasn't worried about much. The little fairies and other creatures barely hesitated when I entered and I took that as permission to sit myself down on the thick, soft grass. Closing my eyes in serenity I heard the quiet trickling of water and my eyes snapped open to see a small pond-of-sorts at the other end of where I sat.

"That wasn't there before," I murmur to myself and the creatures, which looked at me when I spoke. As much as the new presence of the pond startled me, it made my little haven of paradise swell with perfection. Having a water supply meant that other animals might even venture from the darkness of the Forbidden Forest to here. Ever since last year when we were studying unicorns in Care of Magical Creatures, I've always wanted to see one in flesh. I'm not quite sure why, but Professor Contaprat wouldn't let us see the unicorns; and it still ticked me off that I didn't get to see my favourite magical animal.

At that moment, an augurey appeared and the fairies' glistening wings vanished into thin air. The bejewelled illusion was shattered and I was thrust back into reality. The sun was slowly descending and I had to prepare for dinner.

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"Hey Dom! D'ya reckon you could pass me some 'o them potatoes?" Fred asks me from across the table. He seemed eerily happy when I came up to the common room this afternoon, but his lips were sealed. He wasn't telling anyone about his 'miraculous plan' he had in store for the Slytherins.

"Could you speak any more like a bogan?" I reply tartly to him. I still haven't forgiven him for stealing my custard tart, but I gave him the potatoes anyway.

"You should eat some too," James says to me as he grabs some of the potatoes from Fred's plate onto mine. "Carbohydrates are good for you."

"I know that, dum-dum," I reply to him and his almost-motherly behaviour. I think he took the whole "look after your little cousin" thing seriously. James and I were born only a few days after each other; him on the 30th January, and me on the 2nd February. Our close births meant that our mothers got closer, seeing as they went through the whole pregnancy together. Aunt Ginny always reminisces of the times when she'd make fun of my mother and her prissiness. Apparently, Victorie and I are a little like that, not that I believe it.

"And did you eat any proteins today?" He frantically asks me, all the while trying to find some chicken to most likely stuff in my face.

"Look at my plate and you'll see that I have all of the 'good stuff'. You make me sound like I'm anorexic or something," I look at him with a trace of hurt on my face. His eyes soften at what I said and he hugs me briefly before turning to Fred to discuss Quidditch tactics. James was appointed Gryffindor's Quidditch team Captain this year and was dutifully playing the part well. I was proud of him. Fred and Lucy were on the team as well, but I felt that I was too delicate for Quidditch. Victorie was the same. We were the only people in the Weasley family that couldn't play Quidditch for the life of us.

"Dominique, hey!" Franklin says to me a few seats down. I smile warmly at him, grateful for the excuse not to listen to the Quidditch season.

"Hey. Where did you run off to yesterday? I think you were the only person _not_ in the Gryffindor Tower."

He blushed slightly, although I'm not sure why. Maybe he had a girlfriend I didn't know about. Or maybe he felt flattered that I'd noticed him. That was probably it.

"Err... I was with my dad; Professor Longbottom," he busies himself with some carrots on his plate of food. "It was nothing, but," he continues, as if to reassure himself. Suddenly he asks, "Do you want to sit with me and my friends?"

_My friends and I,_ I thought to myself. "Sure. I'd love to get away from the Quidditch fanatics!" We both scoot down the bench to a group of relatively loud (silent compared to what I'm used to) Gryffindors. The group composed of two girls and three boys, not including Franklin. When we moved closer to the six individuals, 12 eyes snapped in our direction; or should I say _my_ direction. It was widely known that the Weasley and Potter families only socialized within their own circle of family/close family friends, and me breaking tradition seemed to attract attention. Well, it was that or my so-called Veela genes.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" I ask politely. Just because Franklin wanted me to sit with him didn't mean that the other people wanted me here.

"Sure! No problem!" a very petite girl bubbled to be. She had wide, light green eyes and smooth brown hair. She had fairly dark skin, making her look like an exotic dessert girl, but her doll-like face contrasted with the exotic chick. Kind of like an exotic china doll. "I'm Eleanor, by the way! But most people call me Elle... or Elley... but usually Elle," she prattled on. I couldn't help but think of how adorable she is. She reminded me of my little cousin, Lily.

I chuckled slightly, "Thanks. I'm Dominique."

"Well we all know that! Whoever doesn't know who you are has no life!" the boy sitting opposite me exclaims, whilst gesturing wildly with his hands. This boy had light brown hair sticking up in all directions, paired with baby blue eyes that most girls would swoon for. I smile at him as he introduces himself as Aaron. The two other boys introduce themselves at Damien and Matt.

I turned to the last person to introduce herself to me; although I'm not sure that I wanted her introduction in the first place. The girl had a round face with lightly speckled with freckles on her cheeks. A mass of golden blond curls covered her head like a lion's mane, and her dark brown eyes were set deeply into a scornful crease. Bonnibel Tyler glared up at me from her seat next to Eleanor.


End file.
